The new cultivar is the result of a breeding program, resulting from a crossing made in May 1998. The inventor is Brian Collingwood, a citizen of the United Kingdom. The new variety was discovered as a seedling resulting from an open pollination of an unnamed, unpatented seed parent, Clematis patens, with an unidentified variety of Clematis as the pollen parent. The discovery was made in February 1999. Crossing and discovery was made at a private garden in Manchester, the United Kingdom.
After selecting and isolating the new cultivar, from approximately 60 seedlings resulting from the above mentioned open pollination, asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘SUZY MAC IMPROVED’ was first performed at a private garden in Manchester, the United Kingdom by vegetative cuttings in the January of 2001. The inventor maintained the original plant, and observed the asexually reproduced plants for several years, to establish stability of the characteristics. ‘SUZY MAC IMPROVED’ has since produced multiple generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.